


Lost in the Right Place

by MissRaichyl



Series: How I Met You [2]
Category: Defiance (TV)
Genre: Aliens, Brother-Sister Relationships, Catching Up, Curiosity, Cute, F/M, Fighting, Fluff, Humor, Love at First Sight, Market Place, Mother-Son Relationship, Playing, Racing, Shy, Sweet, Teasing, little kids, market, wandering
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2016-07-14
Updated: 2016-07-14
Packaged: 2018-07-23 22:13:11
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,665
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/7481889
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/MissRaichyl/pseuds/MissRaichyl
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>"I'm not supposed to walk with strangers." I add as she begins to walk forward. "Well, if I tell you my name, that means we aren't strangers right?" She questions me and I grin with a nod. The pretty lady's eyes light with laughter. "My name is Stahma."</p>
            </blockquote>





	Lost in the Right Place

**Author's Note:**

> Christie is 8  
> Quentin is 13 (5 years older than Christie)  
> Luke is 15 (7 years older than Christie)

I sit on the counter of Daddy's friend's stall, swinging my legs. They weren't even close to reaching the ground yet unlike Luke. Luke said it was safe to sit here while he went off with his friends. Daddy had a big day at work today and the house keeper was sick, so Daddy told Luke to watch me because Quentin wanted to go with Daddy and he can't have two of us running around while he meets with super important men, also I didn't really care about Daddy's business, listening to the terms and stuff hurt my head. Quinton wanted to be there, even though he’s only thirteen, he understands a lot about it already. Daddy said it wasn’t safe for him, yet, but he didn’t care, he just persuaded Daddy anyway. Luke, though, who is the oldest and should be prepping to take it over, as Daddy says, as the oldest, is fifteen and has been brought home by the deputy more times than I can count. But he just left me alone and ran off. 

It wasn't that big of a deal because I am eight now, but lately, even I realize that I cry... a lot. The other kids make fun of me a school for it. It makes me annoyed too, to the point I want to stomp my foot but my brothers just make even more fun of me, then my friends. I let out a sigh and watch as all the species of Defiance interact with one another. We live in an interesting world, were people who aren't people live with people that are. There was the race with really white skin and they always walked in pairs. The aliens with the weird nose were strange, they always remind me of cats! I smile to myself as I watch the haggling and bustling, just observing like the good daughter. Being left in the market while Luke did his secret stuff wasn't that bad. Everybody knew me, I was Rafe McCawleys' daughter, but they also didn’t dare to talk to me because of that, which _wasn’t_ fun. Before sitting here, I did play with a few kids straggling around, but their mother's collected them.

I hop down off of the wooden counter and feel my hair swish around my neck; my ponytail high. I was around, exploring the market place, all the strange things before me. I've been told about the many areas in the market place and which area's mainly belonged to which alien group. I was told by Daddy and Luke to not go into the Castithan's area- it was forbidden because Daddy didn't like someone. He _hated_ the guy and didn't want any of us near him or his kind. That kind was evil, he said, the most evil and wrong of all the alien species. I keep looking around me, looking at all the strange items they have hanging around. Some things were from outside our planet, so they were very interesting to me, but also I wasn't suppose to touch them.

I was so busy looking up, I forgot to watch my feet. It was fast and sudden but I knew I wasn't where I was supposed to be when all around me swished soft fabric and white hands. Whiter than the palest person of my kind. I had wandered so far that now I didn't know where I was. Most of them just stared and walked passed me, marking me as just a lost girl, which I was. I keep turning around as if I'll recognize something but I don't because I’ve never been here and I won't because I'm not supposed to be here! 

I feel a burning behind my eyes and so I shut them really, really tight. I can't cry right now, there is nothing to cry over. I open my eyes but the scenery just blurs and then the burning as I try to not let the tears fall, I am eight years old and eight year olds don't cry! I had to asses what was going on. I knew I was out of place, that I was lost but I didn't know what to do. Everyone was speaking in jumbles and there was no english floating around. How could I ask the evil people to take me home? They would take me for ransom, wouldn't they? Luke always said that is what would happen, so wouldn't that happen to me? Especially being a McCawley child... I shouldn't be here. I spin around some more but all around me was white, just white every which way. Everywhere. I didn't dare move from my spot where I was because what if I got even more lost? I didn't want to get more lost. I couldn't stop the hot, salty tears as they fell from my eyes. _Great!_

If Luke finds me, he’ll yell and be scary and mean and who knows if Daddy will shield me because it's not just running off, I ran off into the bad peoples place. I ball my hands into fist and press them to my eyes, crouching down. I didn’t want Luke to find me like this. He’ll just make fun of me and laugh and call me names and then yell at me! I didn’t want him to find me!

A hand taps my shoulder, and I yelp and spring to my feet as a hand touches me. Without looking, my body reacts. I automatically fling myself away from the person touching me but doing that in a busy market place I accidentally push myself into legs, lots of legs of the evil race and many eyes look at me, but not the eyes I am used to. These are strange eyes, judging eyes of aliens. I fall onto the ground and just stare around me, my eyes welling up again.

A little boy stand just behind the spot where I just was, his eyes wide at my freak-out, his very blue eyes surrounded by very white skin. He didn't't look mean or evil but different and that was scary too. The tears fall and then the view changes by a woman kneeling down in front of me. A pretty woman with gentle eyes. My heart is still beating fast from the scare.

"What's wrong?" The pretty lady asks, her voice smooth like chocolate, like the kind that Daddy gives us when we've been really good or he's in a really good mood. She lifts her hand up to my face and didn't even pull back even when I flinch away from her. Her thumb glides across the surface of my cheek, wiping away the salt water tears that fall from my eyes. Her hand really soft, like velvet, though it was something I had only heard about but I think it would feel like her hand. I look closely at her as she pulls back. Her strange eyes focused on my cheek, a light tilt to her lips show to a small, motherly smile. Her hair is white as well and though down, it is covered by a white veil that matches her pretty dress.

"I'm lost." I say simply with a shrug, sniffling, my voice was still a bit watery from the water works, as Quentin calls it. I rub my hands across my face, trying to get rid of the evidence of tears. The pretty lady makes a soft sound and rises up off of the ground, taking one of my hands with her as she stands straight; I stand as tall as her hip. I twist our hands so I can see hers- the long slender fingers and perfectly filed nails- she had to be as rich as Daddy, if not richer! "I'm not supposed to walk with strangers." I add as she begins to walk forward, with me rooted to my spot.

She smiles down at me, coming back to my side, her long fingers squeezing mine reassuringly. "Well, if I tell you my name, that means we aren't strangers, right?" She questions me and I grin with a nod, The pretty lady's eyes light with laughter. "My name is Stahma Tarr." Her name seemed familiar but then if she was rich like Daddy of course it would be. 

"I'm Christie." I tell her and she just smiles down at me, trailing her hand through my hair in my ponytail. I return her smile and let her lead me.

"I know," she responds, though I don't really think anything of it. She probably did know me, I'm a McCawley. She turns around, calling out across the market place, "Alak!" I turn around her to see a kid a few inches taller, maybe less because of the distance with white hair like Stahma's turn look up toward the voice. He was surrounded by four others boys. He's the boy who approached me. "Come, Alak." She calls again and with resigned gesture, he comes, saying bye to his friends.

He walks slowly, slinking over. "Mom, I think I can stay in the market with my friends." He complains as he reaches us, gravitating to his mother’s other side. We start forward again and she ruffles his hair and gives him a sweet smile.

"Your father has many enemies and though they won't strike him," she smooths his hair back down and gives him the look that Daddy gives me when he is giving us a warning, "I fear that they wouldn't hesitate to strike you." Her hand rests on his shoulder and he sighs in resignment. I hide myself into her skirts, away from him. He seemed okay when I looked at him earlier, but his style of speech is harsh and rough, where as Stahma Tarr is smooth and comfortable. She chides him or something in the language that they speak, resting her hand atop my head, pulling her hand out of mine, and then she replies in English, "This is Christie McCawley, Rafe McCawley's daughter." I can feel his eyes on me through her skirts.

"Father hates him." He states bluntly. Stahma laughs at his words and I freeze- I am walking with Daddy's enemy. I look up at Stahma, her white hair hanging perfectly around her face as she speaks in the strange language again. She looks over at me and in English, says, "That is no secret, is it?" I shake my head no but am stunned as well. I don’t wanna be in trouble.

Alak stands in front of me. “Will you stop hiding?” He growls but his words have the opposite effect and I move myself around Stahma, my feet itching to run from them both. I was going t be taken by Daddy's enemies and it was my fault.

"Alak!" Stahma chides again, "that is no way to talk to a scared child." She bends down again, turning to be face to face with me. "Calm, child. He means no harm." I look at him over his mother's shoulder and inch closer to her. I can't help but like her, like the motherly feel about her. Something I never got the chance to truly know. I twist my hands together and flick my eyes between them both.

"Am I going to be taken?" I ask, my voice small. Stahma laughs quietly and brushes her hand along my cheek.

"No, Christie, won't take you but I will help you." I look at her, look into her eyes and while I know there is danger with her, I also feel a happiness glide through me at the look in her eyes. She doesn't plan to hurt me. Alak moves forward towards us, and my eyes find his.

"I'm Alak, Alak Tarr." He tells me and I raise my eyebrows and look at Stahma, who is laughing silently. "How old are you?" I turn back to Alak. I must have really gotten myself twisted around in this part. He openly studies me, taking in all my eight year old human-ness.

"I'm eight,” I tell him as Stahma stand, leading us once more. 

"I'm nine," He shrugs. "Wanna race?" I look at him for second before agreeing. Racing is fun and with my long legs, I could certainly beat him.

"Don't get each other lost." Stahma warns and then we’re off. 

I am faster than him, though he did stand a few inches taller. That doesn't mean he won't gain on me, which in a matter of seconds, he is. He is on my heels the whole way. Laughter bubbles up in my chest and spills out of my mouth. I hear his laughter behind me. He calls to me to turn left and I do. I follow his directions, pretty much ahead of him the entire time. He almost takes me at a corner as I cut it close, my shoulder almost clipping it but I still manage to stay ahead. 

At the end of this alley, I see my market, the main market. I push my feet harder into the ground, sprinting as I get closer and closer, the walls fade away. I whip my hand in the air and holler. I spin around, doing a dance to celebrate my victory. I slow to see where Alak went and he is leaning on the wall, watching me as a smile plays on his lips. He thinks he’s so cool, huh? Well I won!

He starts to walk toward me with a smile but stops as a yell is echoed through the market. I see his smile fall and I turn quickly to see Luke barreling through the crowd toward me and Alak. "Christie!" He yells and I flash a fearful glance toward Alak and then feel the fear for my own being.

Luke places his hand roughly on my shoulder as he pushes me away from Alak and behind him, causing me to stumble a bit and I see Alak step forward towards me before re-assessing the situation. I grab onto Luke's wrist, trying to pull him away from Alak. "Stop it, Luke! He wasn't doing anything." My brother turns on me.

"This haint here is the reason we live in _this_ world, Christie, and you’re _playing_ with him?" My eyes start to burn and I look upward, anywhere but him. "Are you seriously crying again?"

"Hey, lay off." I hear from the side and see Alak stepping up once more. Luke turns to face him as the burning behind my eyes subsides. I grab at my brothers' wrist again as Alak and he get in fighting distance.

"Luke, seriously stop." I plead once more.

"I suggest you do what your sister suggests, McCawley." I hear from the alley opening and see Stahma. All regal white in the shade of the alley. She is openly glaring at my brother, her strange colored eyes hard as ember, different from the kind lady I just met. I don't know this woman here. Luke looks between the Tarrs before throwing up his hands, flick my hold away and I stumble with the force. Alak starts to come forward again and I shake my head as Luke angrily orders me to follow him, saying he'll be telling Daddy about my adventure. 

His long gate is hard for me to keep up with but I know my way home so it’s okay if I lose sight of him. I hear my name and turn to see Alak racing against the crowd. Surprisingly, I smile. He walks up to me, his eyes bright again and not the harden eyes I saw when he was going against my brother.

"Am I always going to be chasing you?" He asks me, hands on his knees, his hair dropping into his pretty eyes and I smile. I want to answer but I don't know what with.

I laugh, "see you later, Alak." I wave and turn to follow my brother before he comes back.


End file.
